New Day, Another Chance
by WriterWilf
Summary: Countryside outside London, 1921. Digory Kirke (age 30) and Polly Plummer (age 31) wake up after a rather heartfelt night in his bedroom at his home in the countryside. Digory wants Polly to stay, but she knows that her fiance is expecting her back in London in the afternoon. The two lovers reflect on their past, present and future; and the obstacles that keep them from the other.


**AN: Know that I'm probably going to receive some backlash for this story. Honestly though, I don't care what other people think about it. We all have a right to our own interpretations of the characters and the details of their lives that Mr. Lewis doesn't really mention...and Mr. Lewis certainly encouraged people to make Narnia their own in all of their stories- according to the letters. While I'm aware that Lewis did mention that Polly was never married, that doesn't necessarily mean she never did anything with anyone. Come on, let's be realistic. **

**Disclaimer: Narnia is not mine. Don't sue. **

New Day, Another Chance

It was the morning light which had awoken Professor Digory Kirke. As his eyelids peeled back, the world began to unfurl before him. Or rather his bedchamber and the view outside his window. The world was slightly blurry, for he didn't have his glasses on. Despite the fact that he was well into his late twenties, his eyes had become less reliable since he had turned eighteen and had begun his university studies.

Blinking a couple of times, he went to rub his eyes. However, he soon found that his arm was pinned down beneath something. He also began to realize that something also rested on his chest. Reaching across to the finely-crafted wooden nightstand next to him, Digory grabbed his glasses and quickly slipped them on. With his vision restored, he glanced around to take stock of his surroundings. He was in his bedroom chamber. From the bed he could see pictures of him and some of his colleagues as they had trekked across the earth. Pictures of him dining with some natives in Africa. A picture of him sitting atop an Asian elephant while he was in India. There were also pictures of him standing before the Eiffel Tower, the Washington Monument, Stone Henge, to name a few. Having the money and time, the Professor had done quite a bit of traveling. He'd been to six continents, had interacted with over four thousand cultures, and he fluently spoke thirteen different languages aside for English. All of his travels made him a well-respected man throughout the globe. He could also make out his wardrobe off to the side (the one not made from the apple tree which had grown from the seeds he and Polly had planted and later fell during a thunderstorm). Aside for his side-table, the only other piece of furniture was a chair which he sat in at night whenever he was reading and having a cup of tea or coffee and some toast.

From the light that poured in through the window, Digory noticed that there clothes scattered across the room. He spotted his shirt draped across the arm of the chair, and his trousers laid on the floor next to his side of the bed. Additionally he realized that there were articles of clothing that certainly belonged to a woman. A green blouse, underclothes, some stockings, a pair of shoes with heels, and even a hat with a bright green-blue feather sticking out of it. Glancing back at his table, he could also see a small object sitting in a box. A ring that was most certainly a ring with a small diamond set on it. One that was most certainly an engagement sort...

Realization began to dawn on him...

Digory turned his head and he soon found who was laying next to him. The woman was none other than Polly Plummer. She was still sleeping soundly with her blonde head rested on his bare chest. It occurred to him that they were both rather undressed- vulnerable as surely Adam and Eve had been. She had taken hold of much of the sheets in order to wrap herself in, the covers veiling from his sight the start of her breast while leaving his broad chest uncovered. Not that he minded in the slightest- her golden hair was wildly disheveled from the night's events and from sleeping. It surprisingly did well at keeping his upper-body warm. A smile broadened on his as he carefully reached over with his hand and gently laid it in between her shoulder-blades, which were left uncovered. She rustled softly at the contact, but otherwise remained fast asleep.

He couldn't help but admire her as she slept. Ever since he had been a young boy, he couldn't remember a time where she had kept on taking his breath away. When he had first met her (when he was ten and she was eleven) it had been her personality that stole it all from him. While he had been rather miserable and sulky, she whipped him into shape. She took no nonsense from him whenever they argued or played and when they were pulled on their rather riveting adventure into a world they couldn't have possibly imagined- she stood by him.

As their friendship progressed and they got older however- things changed. When he was thirteen he began to realize that perhaps there was something more to what he was feeling for the girl who was arguably his best friend in all the world. How odd things seemed to be back then. When they were younger, he would dream of being with her as he would now. He would picture himself finally working up the courage to say that he loved her. Sometimes his fantasies were so real that he would almost think that he was actually telling her...

Only to find that it was only a dream. A wonderful dream to be sure. Yet one nevertheless.

His musings got interrupted as he felt Polly begin to stir and he watched as she too began to awake. When she did, he could tell the first thing she saw was him. Blinking a couple of times, she lifted a hand which had been previously resting on his stomach and rubbed her eyes. When she removed her hand, he couldn't help but feel as though he were being pulled into those dazzling green eyes. While every part of her took his breath away, her eyes were what could constantly make him breathless. For they were the ones that he could always see.

She smiled, "Well, good morning."

"Good morning," he returned, as he leaned his head down and they gently kissed each other on the lips. After pulling away he asked her, "How did you sleep?"

"Quite well," said Polly as she adjusted herself, clinging to the blanket with one hand and shifting so that her head now rested in the palm of her hand. "Then again, considering what the two of us did last night...that shouldn't be a surprise."

Digory smiled. "Who says that we're getting old? I still feel like I have many more years left in me."

"Well not all of us kept themselves in decent shape while they were doing their studies," Polly reminded him.

Waggling his eyebrows suggestively, Digory said, "Come now, Pol. You were just as wonderful as you always are."

"Don't make fun of me, Dig," she warned him playfully.

"Never!" he exclaimed with a laugh.

"You were too!" she teased.

"Was not!"

"Don't make me get out of this bed."

"You won't."

"I will too if you keep lying to me."

"In all seriousness, I wasn't."

She turned her nose in the air. "Fine then. Guess I'll just- hey no fair!" she exclaimed as Digory wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him. She couldn't help but laugh as she struggled, but submitted when he pressed his lips against hers. For a moment the two of them became lost in the moment. The world around them seeming to fade away into the horizon.

Just before events could pick up though, Polly pressed a hand to Digory's chest. "Digory. No."

Coming back down to Earth- Digory sighed. A mischievous smile came across his face as an idea came along, "You sure you don't want to do this one more time?"

He kissed the hollow of her neck and for a few moments she was tempted to give in. Mustering what will she had though, she gently pushed him away. "You have no idea how desperately I wish to do this again," she said. "I really, truly do. But we can't. If we do, neither one of us will be getting out of this bed."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" asked Digory. "I could just have Mrs. Macready make all of our meals and have her bring them up here."

"We shouldn't be doing this to her- Dig. Mrs. Macready is a kindly woman- but I saw the way she looked at me when she saw that I had arrived. She won't say anything because she may lose her job and out of respect because you're your mother's son, but I can tell she greatly doesn't approve of what we are doing here."

"Since when did we bother about what anyone thought of us?"

"You're going to become the new head of the History department in the University of London," Polly scolded. "I'm going to be marrying a rather prominent businessman in less than a few weeks. You would be stupid not to care about who found out about us and who didn't."

The reminder of that rather prominent detail was one which neither one of them really wanted to remember. Digory winced and sighed. Rubbing the sole of her back he said, "There always seems to be something in our way isn't there?"

Polly closed her eyes and tilted her head lazily, enjoying the feel of his hands on her. Her fingers lazily traced patterns on his chest. "Yes, there always seems to be."

"Most people in our circumstances would have given it all up long ago," said Digory.

"Indeed. We're not like most people though, aren't we?"

"No. We're both rather foolish. Our hearts and minds haven't caught up with the age of our bodies."

"God, you make us sound like we're sixty and have creaky limbs."

"When I'm not with you, that's how I sometimes feel," admitted Digory. "Ever since you and I stopped seeing each other a couple years back, that's how I always felt. They always used to say that you'll feel the age coming at you when you approach your thirties. Recently I've found they haven't been lying. I'm lucky that I'm able to perform as well as I do at the university. Actually kind of surprised they think I should take over as head."

"Well you've done much, Dig. You're smart, charismatic, hardworking. Not to mention rather fetching. Considering how many times I've slept with you, I can attest to that unless it were to my folks."

"How many times does this make?" asked Digory.

"I lost track," admitted Polly guiltily. "Feels like the hundredth."

"Well, the first time we did was when we were both eighteen," he said.

Polly smiled. "It was the night you finally admitted to me that you loved me. I remember it quite well. You and I were sitting beneath the tree that had grown from the seed we had buried together. It was a rather hot afternoon and we wanted to escape the sun."

"You were wearing a pretty blue skirt," Digory reminisced. "I remember looking at you when you came down the stairs. My mother had commented on how beautiful you looked. My eyes boggled and I had to keep my jaw from falling open. My heart skipped a few beats and I felt my throat go dry. It was in that moment, for some odd reason, I felt something tell me that I had to tell you the truth."

"I remember feeling confused at first," Polly said. "Here were the two of us were, sitting beneath the tree. Reminiscing about how all those years ago you and I had gone to magical lands and how it all seemed so long ago and yet also felt as if it had happened just the day before."

"When there was a loll, I blurted out, 'I like you Pol."

"I remember responding, 'Well I would certainly hope so, would be a disaster if we had shared all those adventures back then and the ones we had now and it turned out that you didn't.'"

"That was when I kissed you," he said. He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. When he pulled back he said, "Kind of like that."

"Please," Polly laughed as she shook her head. "You and I had already been over this, our first kiss was rather terrible. Sloppy and uncoordinated and no way in hell resembled the emotions that we were feeling in that moment."

"It was great in its own way," Digory insisted.

Polly relented. "I guess you're right about that. Still, as far as first kisses go- you have to admit it wasn't very good."

"Well, it could have been worse."

"Agreed," said Polly. "You could have completely missed my mouth and kissed the tree instead."

"I did though," remarked Digory. "You were at first taken in by that sloppy first kiss, but when you came to your senses you pulled away and I fell forward, hitting my puckered lips against the trunk of the tree."

Chuckling, Polly said, "Yes, quite true. How could I have forgotten that detail? I only ever laughed about it whenever I could when we were alone."

"Quite a few years have passed since then," Digory pointed out.

"Our first time was rather horrible as well," said Polly.

"Well we were both young and clueless back then. I only ever had experience from what stories the older boys from my school told me. You had next to none."

"The good little Christian children were the ones who deflowered one another. Despite the fact that they were both nervous and neither one of them really knew what they were doing. Not to mention they were unwed! Our friends did quite get a kick out of that when they found out."

"The Catholic boy and the Anglican girl no less! Comical and scandalous at the same time."

"Leave it to us to fall in love with people outside of our traditions," agreed Polly sadly. "If it weren't for that little fact, neither one of us would be here. Hiding what we truly feel, sneaking about to try and live it out while we still can."

"My family wouldn't have cared," said Digory. "My parents loved you. I don't think they'd appreciate the fact that we got down to business the first day we admitted our feelings. Yet they were still quite fond of you."

"You know that my family despises yours though," Polly said. "They always said that if I didn't end up with a good man of the English church they would have no more dealings with me."

Digory sighed. "Bother it all. I could have taken care of you. We could have lived together. My family would've gotten use to it."

"Our paths were already then heading in different directions though," Polly said.

"We still continued to see each other," Digory pointed out. "You and I definitely partook in our promiscuous activities more than once."

"Indeed. Then you got drafted into the Great War and had to have your studies put on hold. We wrote to each other, but letters were sparse between and every day I kept wondering if you'd ever come back alive or even in one piece."

"Meanwhile you met James Thrushwell."

Polly sighed. "Don't remind me."

"He's a decent chap," Digory admitted. "Of course I'm the better between the two, but if you had to fall in love with anyone and had to marry, he's a decent fellow. You could have fallen for someone much worse."

"He is decent," admitted Polly reluctantly. "James has been good to me in all the ways that a woman can hope that a lover would be. We go to parties and spectacles, he takes me out to nice restaurants. He's sweet to me even when we are cross with one another. He's got money and status, he's handsome and not sad on the eyes. He's spiritual too."

"Whoa. You're making me jealous of him over here, and I'm the one you bed with last night," said Digory, only half-joking.

"He's not you though, Digory," said Polly. "I love James. Yet here I am, lying with you in your bed with both of us bare as the day we were born. Every morning I wake up to him, yet I keep wishing it were you next to me. I keep hoping it's your voice I hear whispering in my ears or calling my name. Your hands that I hold. Your lips that I kiss. Your body moving in time with mine. I wish I was sitting next to you at church. I wouldn't even care if it was an Anglican or Catholic service as long as I were with you."

She placed a hand gently on his chest, in the spot she knew that his heart beat. She looked him in the eyes. Sadness written on them. "I wish it were your heart that I could feel beating most of all."

She placed her head on his chest with her ear resting on the spot. He pulled her closer to him and held her tightly, letting her know that his presence was there. "I wish it was your heart that I could hear beating as I fall asleep at night."

Digory sighed. "I really wanted to marry you, Pol. More than anything in the world. I look at my life and while women have come and gone, you are the one who always comes back. I wished for it harder than anything else. When I was in the trenches, the only thing that kept me going on some days was the hope that I would be able to see your smiling face. To feel your hand in mine and your warm embrace to hold me and reassure me that there were things in this world beyond war and suffering."

"I hate myself for not having waited for you."

"I'm the one who said that we should probably go on our own way," said Digory. "I was afraid that if we were still together, that you'd lose me not only as a friend but also a lover. I didn't want you to be destroyed twice if one day my body should come back battered and broken, with no light to meet your eyes."

"I should have told you that you were being an ass like I normally do," said Polly. "In a way however, I suppose I was scared too. I was terrified that should anything happen, I would never have recovered. People tell me all the time that I'm strong. My mother always kept telling me that I'm too stubborn and that no man would ever fall in love with me if I didn't stop insisting on being right. When you got taken away though, I felt as though all my strength went with you. It was like somehow my courage and you got fused together. If my friend died, I could pick myself back up. Yet if my lover- my best of friends- didn't, who'd be there to pick me up? Sure God would be, but it's just different. People need other people not because God's not enough, but because God likes to work through others as a way of showing His love. I let you go because I didn't want to lose the one whom I loved most of all."

"I will always love you, Polly."

"I love you too, Digory," she said. "I love you more than anyone in the world. I just wish that our world was different. More accepting. I wish we were back in Narnia. I don't think the people there would have cared if you were Catholic and I was Anglican or if I was a middle-class girl and your family was well-to-do. Something tells me that over there at least we would have had a chance."

"There's no point in wishing about it now," said Digory. "We aren't in Narnia. This is our world. This is our home."

Polly shook her head. "I will never have a home. The day in a world where you and I can be together, without fear or shame of what my parents would do, that's when it will be home."

"You could stay with me though. Break off your engagement with James. We could take what money I have and we could go somewhere else. Some place where you won't have to see your parents frown upon you whenever they see you and me together."

Polly shook her head. "I can't do that, you know that very well, Digory. I shouldn't even be here, in this house. With you. Doing what we just did, and what we are doing now."

"Are you telling me that this doesn't feel right? What we're doing now? Polly, it's been a couple years without you in my life. I noticed immediately when you were gone. I felt as though a hole had been ripped open in me. Like someone had taken a very important part of who I was away. Nothing I did could make it go right. Not until the day you and I ran into one another just a few months ago. Or until you and I spent all that time at that party while our dates had gone off to use the loo and to fetch the car. In those moments where you and I first kissed. Now that you and I have slept together again, there can't be no denying it anymore.

"Polly, nothing in my life seems right unless you're in it. I don't just want you, I need you. Not because I need sex or a woman on my arm. You're my everything. You give me hope, you give me strength, you give me courage. You love me even though I can still be quite an ass. Push me to do my hardest, and over and over when I fail you always help me pick myself up and dust myself off. "

She shook her head. "We were made to be, Digory. I don't think we were meant for this world though. This world will never accept us. I love you so much, Digory, but I can't just leave my family behind. As much as it hurts me...I can't disappoint them."

"If you do go through with the marriage with James, you'll only disappoint yourself."

Polly sat up in bed. Digory watched as she brushed a tear from her eyes. He sat up to try and hold her. Just as he was about to wrap her arms around her and pull Polly close though, she pressed her hand against his chest. She then leaned down an with one hand she managed to pick up most of her garments. As she slipped them on she said, "No. We can't do this. If I don't leave now, I won't ever. I really do need to go, Digory. I'm expected back by this afternoon."

"Why did you tell them you'd be back by a certain time?" Digory asked, frustrated and desperate for her to stay. He let her dress herself though. Instead, while he was still naked, he crawled from the bed and stood behind her. He wrapped his arms around her but she pushed them away. Again he tried but she pulled away.

Before he could try again though she said, "Dig. Please. You're only making this harder."

"No Pol. This is harder than what it already is because we did this despite how stupid we knew it would be doing it. If we weren't going to make things work out in the end, then why did we do it?"

"Maybe I wanted to say a proper goodbye to my lover and best friend?" she said. "Perhaps I wanted to tie the loose ends? Make things right between us because we never did after you went off to the war?"

"I think you're just terrified because you know that you want this about as much as I do. You thought it'd be something that would go away after we did it. It didn't though. You still love me, and I still love you. The only reason why you're leaving now is because of James and what your family would think if they found out."

"You're right," she admitted, rounding on him in frustration. Why did he insist on making this difficult? Didn't he see that this was hurting her as well? "That's exactly why. I won't deny it. I'm terrified. I'm scared of what my parents will do when they find out that not only have I lied to them about why I came here, but also what I did. I'm afraid of what my fiance will do if he finds out that I'm sleeping with a man that isn't him. I'm also scared of what might happen should I decide to break away and be with you instead. Why shouldn't I be though? Give me one good reason why."

"Because I'd be with you every step of the way."

"What happens if it doesn't work out between us like it did last time?"

"What if it does?"

"Everyone will look at me differently."

"As if that's stopped you before."

"My parents will disinherit me."

"If they truly loved you they wouldn't do that."

"That's it!" cried Polly. "I'm out of here."

"Polly! Wait!"

"I'm such an idiot." By now Polly had finished dressing, and she was on the verge of tears. "How could I have allowed myself be so foolish? What part of me actually thought that doing this would make things any better?"

"Polly, please, come back. I'm sorry. I didn't meant to push. I just want-"

"That's the trouble isn't it?" said Polly. "That's the problem in this whole damn world! A woman can't even have a chance at getting anything she wants or needs. She always has set aside her desires. Her father or brother or lover tells her that she can't, and she obeys. If not she pays for it in the end. Society tells her what she can't and can't do. When she breaks those standards, everyone gets up in arms. Nobody cares about what a woman needs or wants. A woman doesn't stand a chance unless she lies on her back and gives in and lets everyone walk all over her like a rug."

"But Polly, you said that you wanted to be with me."

"I do."

"Yet you still decide to go with James." 

"That's right."

"You won't win if you decide to be with him."

"I won't win if I'm with you either," said Polly. "At least with James I'll still have my family."

"You can have that with me."

"Take that back you asshole! Implying that I'm some kind of breeding ground."

"You know that's not what I meant. I just meant-"

"Get out of my way, Digory."

"But Polly-"

She shoved him aside and Digory landed on the bed. As she went out the door, Digory quickly reached over and grabbed his bathrobe. He chased after her as he slipped it on. One of the maids who had come just around the corner gasped when she saw that her employer was almost completely naked, and Digory called out an apology as her cheeks went red and she started walking in the opposite direction.

By the time he reached her, Polly was already outside and she was heading towards her car. Digory cried after her, "Please Polly! Listen to me! I didn't mean-"

"You never do," she shouted over her shoulder.

"When I said that I love you! I meant that! I meant every word of it! I love you Polly. I always have and always will!"

Polly climbed into her car as Digory leaned his head towards her window. Trying to convince her to stay. She turned to him. "Look out of my way. As pissed off as I am, I still don't want to back over you, Digory."

"Polly, please forgive me."

"I thought you were different," Polly said. "All of those years ago you were different. After the Narnia adventure you always took my opinions into account. You listened to me and let me have my own thoughts and ideas."

"I am different Polly. Please, if you just give me a chance-"

"You had your chance, you blew it. Instead of suggesting that I just throw everything away for you, I wanted you to tell me that we would either both throw it all away, or we'd work together to convince my parents otherwise. We'd stay here in England. Somehow or other we'd make it work. I would have broken off the engagement if you said that we'd work together to figure it out. Instead all you said was that I should just give up everything I worked hard for, and everyone that I care about, just so that I can be with you.

"Well let me tell you something. Love doesn't work that way. A woman shouldn't have to compromise everything just so that her man doesn't have any problems. It needs to be a partnership, a union with both of them giving up and bringing in everything equally."

"We can do that, Polly. Please. Just-"

"Go away Digory!"

"Pol-"

"Go you beast! Leave me alone. Don't even try and talk to me. I won't acknowledge you if you do."

It was in those moments, with the peeling of the tires on the gravel, that Digory Kirke wished that he could have stopped time. In those moments when he and Polly were in his bedroom and making love, reconnecting in a way that they had not done so in so long, he wished all time could have stood still. Everything would have been perfect. He would have been with her. She would have been with him. Life would have been well.

Yet he knew that it wouldn't have mattered. He could have frozen the clock until the end of time. It wouldn't have changed what would have happened when eventually the clock hands would have to move.

In those moments, he knew he had completely blown it. Instead of trying to hold the clock back or run away, he should have tried to make things work. Instead of expecting everything to work out on its own, he should have done it himself.

As Polly's car disappeared down the road, Digory continued standing in nothing but his bathrobe. Cursing himself. It wouldn't matter if things were different. He screwed up. They were trying to do their best. Working to find a way. Now though, all those chances they had were gone. All of them...right down to the last. There and gone.

Forlorn, he turned around and went back inside of his house. To his surprise, when he entered, Mrs. Macready was waiting for him. Her lips were pursed and he could tell that she didn't approve of how the situation had all played out. Still, she kept what surely must have been ridiculing remarks behind her teeth and said, "Sir?"

"Yes, Mrs. Macready?"

"Hetty was in there tidying up your room. We have proceeded to take off the sheets and they are being washed as we speak."

Digory was unresponsive for a few seconds, his thoughts still dwelling on Polly. When he realized that Mrs. Macready was still standing there, waiting for his acknowledgment, he shook his head. "Sorry. Thank you."

She then held out her hand, and indicated to Professor Kirke was to do the same. When he did, he felt something metallic with something rather hard placed in his hand. When she took it back, he looked down and saw that it was a ring. Not just any ring though...

It was Polly's engagement ring!

"She must have left it here," Mrs. Macready said. "Of course, can hardly blame a woman. When one's mind is roaring with anger and hurt it's easy for anyone to be distracted and to forget things."

"I'll have to return it to her!" Digory exclaimed. "I have to get it back to her before she reaches her fiance and he realizes it's gone!" Then something clicked. "Wait a second. Gone!" He smiled from ear to ear and laughed. This caused confusion to fall on the housekeeper's face. Ignoring this though, Digory went on to say, "Her ring is here! She's going to realize that it's gone!"

"One would be an idiot if they didn't, considering one that costs as much a fortune as that."

"Don't you see, Mrs. Macready! This is a sign! From the heavens above it's a sign!"

"I don't quite get your meaning."

"Never mind that," said Digory. "We need to catch up to Polly, Mrs. Macready. Before she gets back to her fiance!"

"Is she worth it, sir?" asked Mrs. Macready. "I know full well it's not my place to say on the matter. Lord knows I'm not clean when it comes to these kinds of things either. I just have to wonder...is she worth you going after and falling on your feet? It seems to me that it may not work."

"She's worth it to me, Mrs. Macready!" Digory proclaimed. "Polly Plummer is my best friend in the entire world. She and I have shared adventures and experiences you couldn't possibly imagine. I'm not going to just let her walk out of my life. I won't let it happen again. I love her, and whatever happens you never give up on those whom you love."

"I take it you want me to get the car then?"

"Why most certainly yes! There's no time to lose! Hurry! Don't you see? I had a chance and it's gone. Now I have another to make things right! It's not all the time this happens! We must take advantage of it! Make haste!"

Mrs. Macready obeyed.

Digory looked down at the ring. Tightening his fist around it, he looked in the direction of London, where Polly's car was surely going. "I won't let you down, Polly. Not anymore. I promise you, Pol. I'll make this right. This is a new day, another chance! I won't let it slip!"

**AN: Special thanks to my beta, Nothing Really Specific. **


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